Emperor's Club

Brother’s original love for Doodle shows when he says “...to share with him the only beauty I knew, Old Woman Swamp” (2). Brother is taking Doodle to his own “secret hideout,” which he has kept a secret to everyone, making Doodle feel special and included. This illustrates a picture of the loving bond that these brothers share with each other. This changes, when Brother says “Do you want to be different from everyone else when you start school? Does it make any difference?” Doodle says. “It certainly does” (2). At this point, Brother realizes that Doodle is going to be different from everyone else at school, and does not like it. Doodle, however, does not see a problem with him not fitting in. Brother’s pride eventually overtakes his love for Doodle, because he now only wants to help him so that he fits in with everyone

Hurst’s use of figurative language throughout this excerpt helps provide the readers with the extensive characterization of the narrator and Doodle. Within this passage, the narrator proves to shift from negativity to complete determination. In the passage, Hurst writes the eldest brother saying, “... It seemed so hopeless from the beginning that it’s a miracle I didn’t give up.”

Brother would make mean comments to try to motivate Doodle to keep working to acheieve their goals. Brother said, “Aw, come on, Doodle. You can do it. Do you want to be different from everybody else when you start school?” (Hust 8).

The quote exposed the narrator’s true motives and intentions to his younger sibling only by his ambition to normalize Doodle, for his own sake. The narrator thought that “pride […] spoke to [him] louder than all their voices”, and that even though he mostly cared his younger brother, he only invested his time and effort to towards Doodle as well as improving his younger sibling's weaknesses to make his family seem more normal. Doodle was oblivious to this, and thought nothing but love towards Older Brother because he was helping Doodle become less different. Hurst also employs the phrase “that pride, whose slave I was” to imply that Older Brother is also having his struggles, and he was figuratively a “slave” to his thoughts, and he was experiencing a conflict with his own morality and dignity. Previous to the younger sibling walking, it seemed “so hopeless from the beginning that it’s a miracle [he] didn’t give up”. The narrator thought, “But all of us must have something or someone to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine. I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death” (Hurst

The narrator regrets how he pushed Doodle far beyond his limits. Now that the Brother is older, he knows how pride can affect him. “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.”(4) When the Brother got Doodle to stand, he was confident in Doodle to accomplish any physical movement. So he expected more and more out of Doodle. But he didn’t know the pain and the danger of trying to exceed the limit of one’s body. Now, after all the years have passed by, the narrator realize that his love for Doodle. “But sometimes (like right now), as I sit in the cool, green-draped parlor, the grindstone begins to turn, and time with all its changes is ground away--and I remember Doodle.”(1) The years have taken away the cruelty and selfishness in the Brother’s early year and he was sorry for how he forced and threatened Doodle. The narrator looks over the cruel moments he had with Doodle and blames Doodle’s death on himself. “They did not know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all the other voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.”(5) The voice here is very regretful of his sins, and wants to fix what he had already

As a child attending grammar-school he had been moved to the head of the class and ultimately being skipped to a higher grade. Later as an apprentice in his brother’s printing-house he states

Older siblings feel obligated to take authority over their younger siblings. The narrator took the responsibility of teaching Doodle to develop into an ordinary boy; however, he supports Doodle out of selfishness. With this in mind, the narrator changes Doodle’s name from “William Armstrong” to Doodle because he believes Doodle is not strong enough to have that name. He believes “William Armstrong” only “sounds good only on a tombstone,” (595) so changing Doodle’s name was the kindest thing he could have done. Likewise, the narrator selfishly disobeys the doctor’s list of don'ts for Doodle because he doesn’t agree with Doodle’s limitations. In fact, the narrator hauls Doodle carelessly around cotton fields and whips him around corners on two wheels of the go-cart. As a result, the narrator decides to take the next step in teaching Doodle. As school approaches, Doodle falls behind on learning to run, swim, and climb. Therefore, the narrator decides to double his efforts and push Doodle even harder. “I made him swim until he turned blue and row until he couldn’t lift an oar. Wherever we

There are many relationships throughout the small part we read, in the story ‘The Palace Thief’. The few key relationship are Mr. Hundert & Sedgwick, Mr. Hundert & Senator Bell, and Mr. Hundert & Charles Ellerby.

In the scene where the narrator has finally disclosed to his parents that Doodle is now able to walk, he “ began to cry” and the father asks him why he was crying. He keeps to himself that he “ did it for himself” and he “was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (559). Hurst also utilizes flashback in order for the narrator to recall his past actions which he now regrets doing. In the story, the narrator constantly performed cruel actions on his brother which he does not realize himself until that scene where notices that the only reason Doodle was actually able to walk was because he was ashamed of his incompetence. This results in him having flashback later on and led to him realilzing this

Different events, positive and negative, changed his thoughts and helped him become more mature, and a responsible person. Watching his home going to the work made him realize he should do something in his life. Once he started working, he learned to be respectful and reliable even if it took a while for him to change. Once he became more familiar with Penny, she starts to trust him. She starts to give more responsibility. With that in mind, the accident that Penny had changed everything. It ended the relationship between him and Kentucky. However, he moved on without much difficulty. At the end, he was still thinking about his father's words and what he said about the white boys. He never forgot him. Perhaps, the father also had a positive effect on

The narrator always had strong opinions about Doodle. Ever since the day Doodle was born, the narrator’s pride was much too high for having him as a brother, saying, “he was born when I was six and was, from the outset, a disappointment.” Not even giving his brother a chance to grow up and prove himself. Since the narrator did not know how to handle having a

Furthermore, the important Tournament of Roman History is almost won due to Sedgewick Bell's cheating. The headmaster at the time trickles under the weight of the powers and tells Hundert to ignore the cheating and move on. There were higher-ups at the school as well as Sedgewick Bell's senator father continually badger Hundert and prevent him from taking any action against Sedgewick Bell. Perhaps Mr. Hundert draws some ironic encouragement from his self regard that he has failed to reshape Sedgewick Bell's personal character. But I believe he also overestimates the influence on his character building coaching might have on students like his. Hundert has a clear sense of his own identity that he cannot always stand up to others.

Mr. Hundert realized that Sedgewick was cheating, so he gives him a question that’s not in the course’s material so that he is penalized for his wrongdoing. Furthermore, this act can also be seen as justice. Additionally, justice can be seen when the older Mr. Hundert and Sedgewick were talking in the bathroom. Mr. Hundert was speaking poorly of Sedgewick and asking him questions on why he would cheat, once again. This forced Sedgewick to say his real, unjust feelings about the “real world,” not knowing that his child was in the stall, close by. Although Mr. Hundert did not know the child was nearby, he tried to persuade Sedgewick to think in a morally good way, but it ultimately failed. Lastly, honesty is shown at the end of the movie when the second Mr. Caesar ended. Mr. Hundert runs into Martin, and he lets him know that he was supposed to be competing for Mr. Caesar, which breaks Martin’s heart. From this movie, one can see that Mr. Hundert is a man that teaches many virtues, but his teachings have been inflicted by trying to help a man by the name of Sedgewick

He is fervently determined to succeed in his contemporary competitive society. In a conversation with his children about Bernard, he enumerates a few

Sedgwick turns his act around and starts applying himself to his studies. And eventually makes his way near the top of the class, almost qualifying him for a spot in the Julius Caesar contest. So seduced by Sedgwick’s renewed effort, Mr. Hundert decides to bump him up into the last spot kicking some other poor kid out. Hoping that the ends justify the means, Mr. Hundert, a man who believes in the rules, broke them.